1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to processing carbon-based feedstock, and in particular to a cooler for cooling product after it exits a distillation chamber.
2. Description of the Related Art
Coal is an abundant natural resource capable of exploitation to produce large amounts of energy. Coal in its raw form, however, usually contains undesirable compositions in the form of a number of other chemical compositions or elements. One problem faced in the coal industry is that traditional means of extracting energy from coal have been the subject of concerns, due to possible adverse environmental consequences because of the undesirable compositions usually present in raw coal. For example, historically coal has been burned to create heat, such as to turn water into steam to power a turbine and generate electricity. This process generates large amounts of gaseous emissions containing small amounts of the undesirable compositions which harm the environment. As a result, the use of coal as an energy source can cause tension between the need for an economic way to produce energy on the one hand, and environmental concerns on the other.
During a typical coal processing operation, coal and other carbon-based products are often subjected to distillation processes in order to extract various products therefrom. Typically, the distillation process involves heating a coal feedstock in the absence of oxygen as the feedstock is moved through the distillation chamber, leading to the conversion of the feedstock into useful product.
When the product leaves the distillation chamber, it is typically very hot. Thus, the product must be cooled in order to further process or package the product. To accomplish this cooling, numerous techniques are used in the industry, each having shortcomings. For example, some coolers use glycol, or other cooling fluid, circulated through and enclosed in the fins of an auger that pulls the feedstock through the cooler. Such a cooler, however, is exceedingly expensive to manufacture and operate. In addition, some prior art coolers vibrate to move the feedstock through a cooling chamber while cool gas is blown in one end of the chamber. This type of cooler, however, is unsuited to many types of feedstock, however, because the air moving through the chamber combined with the agitation of the feedstock created too much dust.